Many forms of medication require the patient to prepare and inject the required dosage using a syringe. In certain circumstances, the patient or other user may be required to undertake a number of preparatory steps in order to get the dosage ready for injection. However, some patients may be prone to infection and/or other complications. Therefore, a number of cautionary steps are typically advisable when preparing the medication for injection in order to reduce the chances of such complications.
Many medications are often prepared and injected by the user. Such medications typically are packaged and sold in a small vial having a removable lid or cap which covers a rubber stopper. Care must be taken when removing the cap so as not to contaminate either the rubber stopper or the medication contained in the small vial. After the cap is removed, the vial remains covered by the rubber stopper. As would be known, a needle or an adapter may be used to penetrate the rubber stopper, thus providing access to the medication contained within the vial. For some powdered medications, first a diluent must be injected into the vial using the adapter, thus permitting the user to mix and then extract the medication using the syringe/needle.
The syringe used to inject the dose of medication into the user is typically shipped or stored without having the needle in place. Instead, the forward end of the syringe is typically covered by a protective tip cap. When the user is preparing to inject the medication, this tip cap must be removed and replaced with the needle. The needle itself is provided with a protective cover, which permits the user to attach the needle to the forward end of this arranged without contaminating the needle itself. This protective cover must be removed prior to injection. Again, care must be taken to avoid contaminating the needle.
At least some patients may experience some degree of difficulty removing the vial cap, removing the tip cap, and/or removing the needle cover. Therefore, it may be desirable to provide a tool which assists the user in easily and effectively removing the aforementioned components.